More legal trouble for Abhishek Verma, CBI registers new case

Arms dealer Abhishek Verma has been booked by CBI in a new case of alleged cheating and forgery for faking signature of an agency officer on a letter which claimed that inquiry against Verma was being closed in a case.

The CBI has in recent months registered three other cases against Verma, who is also an accused in the naval war room leak case.

CBI sources said Verma allegedly sent a letter to his bank with forged signature of an agency officer asking it to defreeze his account saying that the probe against him has been closed due to lack of evidence.

The fabricated letter dated April 20, 2009 was addressed to CBI Director and Interpol and had mentioned that judicial requests sent to Switzerland to gather details of his Swiss bank accounts have returned unexecuted and the inquiry against him be closed, they said.

Sources said that bank accounts of Verma, who was booked in Naval War Room leak case where several secret documents were allegedly stolen and leaked to Thales, the maker of Scorpene submarines, were frozen at that time.

CBI sources said during the inquiry into the letter, which was allegedly provided by Verma's estranged associate C Edmond Allen, the agency found that signature of its Superintendent of Police were forged and the said officer was not posted with the agency at that time.

Meanwhile, a team of CBI and Enforcement Directorate led by a senior officer of the agency would be going United States in October to record the statement of Allen and pursue the Letters Rogatory sent to the USA seeking details of financial transactions of Verma.

CBI needs to record the statement of Allen in cases against Abhishek Verma to finalise its charge sheet against the arms dealer in connection with various cases against him.
Verma and his  Romanian wife Anca are presently under judicial custody.

The agency has booked Verma and his wife for allegedly receiving USD 5,30,000 from Rheinmetall Air Defence AG (RAD) for using their influence to stall blacklisting proceedings against it by Indian government.

During the investigation, CBI has come across several forged letters which were provided to it by Allen which included a purported letter on the letter head of the then Minister of State for Home Ajay Maken and another fabricated letter in the name of its Superintendent of Police.

Allen had also provided tranche of secret defence documents to CBI which were allegedly provided to him by Verma.

Based on these documents CBI had registered two more cases against him--alleged violation of Official Secrets Act and forgery on the letterhead of Makan.

Verma is also facing a probe by Enforcement Directorate in connection with a case under Prevention of Money Laundering Act.